


Just ask, and I'll bae yours

by violentcheese



Series: Prompts [1]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bae, M/M, Tall Bald & Handsome, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 13:48:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4351154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violentcheese/pseuds/violentcheese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee shop AU for the prompt “I work at Starbucks and wow you either have the weirdest or the coolest name ever but I can’t spell that so I’m just gonna write bae instead.”</p><p>Merlin x Eggsy</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just ask, and I'll bae yours

Eggsy adores working at The Bean Hut. It’s not local at all, it’s out near Saville Row. It’s a solid 8 hours out of the house, more if he can swing an extra shift. It’s money in his pocket- legitimately earned money- that he can use to treat Daisy with. The posh types tend to snub Eggsy until they taste his coffee- Eggsy makes a damned good coffee. He’s never worked the early shifts thanks to the buses not running early enough but the trains do, so he agrees easily to swap. 

And shit, was that a good decision. 

Taking the 5.30am shift means he has to get up at bumfuck o’ clock when it’s still dark out, stumbling about (but silently, always so quiet while Dean’s about) and into his clothes. Taking the 5.30am shift also means seeing Tall, Bald and Handsome every morning too. Eggsy’s in _love_. The stranger’s glasses suit his face perfectly, framing his lovely eyes. (The same ones Eggsy has to remind himself not to stare into for too long, lest TB &H realise that it isn’t coffee on his barista’s mind..). He’s a good bit taller than Eggsy is and isn’t that delightful? The way that his jumpers stretch so teasingly taut across the man’s broad shoulders and biceps, christ. 

Eggsy has fucking _dreams_ about those shoulders.

The man’s always engrossed in his tablet, usually talking to someone called Galahad, which, weird much? Whatever. Strange man can be as weird as he wants, Eggsy decides, as long as he bring himself and those sinful jumpers into the coffee shop every morning. He doesn’t chat, to Eggsy’s dismay. Just a quiet “Coffee, black, three sugars,” on engrossed-in-tablet days or a sighed “Earl Grey, lots of milk, cheers,” on rainy ones. His voice fucking _rumbles_. 

Eggsy’s so gone for him and he doesn’t even know the man’s name! There are never enough customers in the shop to justify asking for his name. Eggsy sticks to calling him Tall, Bald & Handsome and mooning over him across the counter. It’s a good system. 

~~~

Merlin’s got a problem, a problem in the form of a chatty young barista in the coffee shop not too far from the Kingsman shop. A chatty young barista who is absolutely gorgeous and has such a sunny disposition. And some damned good coffee. Merlin has a coffee machine in his office, he really shouldn’t be spending the small fortune he does but.. Well, he wouldn’t get to see the young lad every morning otherwise. 

Merlin knows that the young man looks a little too much like a man Harry was going to propose for the Lancelot position years and years ago for it to be a coincidence. So he does a little digging, and yes, that is indeed Lee Unwin’s son. Lee Unwin who had declined Harry’s offer and died six months later abroad fighting in a war that wasn’t his own. Merlin decides against reading Gary Unwin’s file. Breaching someone’s privacy is not something he does unless it’s for a mission, so he leaves it. 

He wants to get to know the lad naturally, is all. Except he never has any bloody _time_. 

~~~

Eggsy- Eggsy is not coping. It’s 5:45am and already the shop is packed out with all types. He can’t even guess as to what’s going on because they’re a mishmash of suits, fancy dresses, plain clothes, uniforms of some kind? He doesn’t want to know. He’s 15 minutes in, after a late night out partying with Jamal and Ryan and he’s so hungover it feels like his head has detached from his body just so it can thump itself against a wall. The noisy crowd is decidedly unhelpful. He pus on his best customer service smile, taking orders, brewing tea and coffee and writing so many posh names on their take out cups. Just his luck that TB&H comes in, innit? 

He’s tired, his head is pounding and he’s served more coffee in the past hour than he has in the last 2 weeks. That’s what he blames his accent slipping on, anyway. Instead of his carefully maintained neutral, not-quite-posh accent, his harsh south end one bleeds through.

“Sup, bruv, what’ll it be t’day? Hold up- Y’got your tablet, so it’s coffee. Be ready in two ticks,” he smiles tiredly at the man. The sight of him is enough to get Eggsy through the rest of the mad rush, really. The stranger’s eyebrows raise a little- he hadn’t thought his barista paid attention to, let alone remembered, his orders. 

“Yes, a coffee, cheers. Do you need my name? For the cup,” Merlin tacks on at the barista’s confused look. The lad looks absolutely wrecked. Dark circles under his eyes and a pinched look indicate a migraine. Merlin feels sorry for him. Eggsy nods slowly, lifting the black marker to the paper cup. He’s waited for this day to arrive for ages and yet he can’t seem to fully focus. The noise level in the coffee shop has peaked and Eggsy feels like he’s dying. 

That slip of focus can be the only explanation for his writing ‘Bae’ on the cup instead of the soft “Aodhán,” which is either the weirdest or the coolest fucking name Eggsy’s ever heard, he can’t decide. He flashes a smile at the man and goes to make his coffee, all in a daze. 

He’s still in a daze six minutes later when he makes eye contact with the man and loudly calls not Aodhán, but “Coffee for Bae!” 

Merlin freezes.

Eggsy follows suit a second later, once he realises his mistake. _Shiiiiiiiiiit_.

Merlin’s the first to recover, striding to the counter to take his coffee, an amused smile on his face. He’s not as out-of-the-loop as most of the Kingsmen are, he’s pretty up to date on modern slang. He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose in a small gesture that is the fucking cutest thing Eggsy’s ever seen. (little does he know that Merlin's shutting Harry up- the teasing bastard shouldn't even be watching Merlin's feed as it is, let alone singing that damned 'K-I-S-S-I-N-G' song to Merlin). Eggsy’s still standing there, mute with horror, as the man he’s been crushing on from afar for months reaches for the marker clipped to Eggsy’s collar. 

“If you wanted to call me bae, all you had to do was ask,” he laughs, jotting down his actual name and a number from a burner phone. Can’t be too careful. “But please, I prefer Aodhán. Here you go...?” 

“Eggsy. Eggsy Unwin,” he forces out somehow, tucking the scrap of paper with the man’s number on it into his pocket safely. “Sorry about- the whole.. You know.” He blushes, tipping back his head with a groan. (Merlin hates what the sight does to him). “Sorry, Ao- Aodhán, m’head’s not screwed on right t’day. Come back tomorrow instead?” They share a smile and Merlin leaves, tapping the bridge of his glasses again to unmute his feed from Harry. 

He listens to Harry calling him bae for the next half hour before remotely turning on the signet ring’s shocking function. He smirks to himself as he descends down to the subway and says aloud to Harry, “I’m not _your_ bae.”

~~~

Ten months of intense training and trials, Harry being shot, saving the world, Harry being resurrected and a relationship put on hold in favour of a friendship for impartiality reasons. Ten months of Eggsy being the only one to make Merlin’s drinks. Ten months of sticky notes attached to mugs declaring the beverage to be ‘from Eggsy, for Merlin’. 

Until finally, the sticky note is signed ‘from Gawain, to Aodhán (bae). xxx’.

Their first proper kiss tastes like sugar and tea and it's the sweetest thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at violentcheese or merwin-trash on tumblr! Cheers :)


End file.
